Linza made her way over to the private dining area behind the one-way mirrors. There were about a dozen tables and four were occupied—five after Linza sat down.

The folks in the room looked like regular patrons. Sipping tea, reading the paper, scribbling in a notebook.

The one-way mirrors ran nearly floor to ceiling, and the view through to the rest of the teahouse was clear. It was easy to forget that the rest of the teahouse couldn’t see you. And that was the point. 

Linza snuck glances at the other patrons, trying to figure which one was here for Tanyth. In the back corner was an older man with salt and pepper hair smoothed back and an emerald corduroy suit. Linza would have bet a whole night’s pay that was him. Everything about his demeanor said ‘gentleman’.

Tanyth dropped off her tea with the usual formalities and then fluttered over to the gentleman. They leaned close to him and spoke quietly, pressing their fingers to their lips.

But it was improper to stare—those were not the parameters of this experience—so Linza sipped her tea and watched idly out over the teahouse.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long. Tanyth stopped by the main counter to end their shift, though it wouldn’t appear to the other patrons that they had.

They carried a little tray of shortbread cookies with them as they returned to the private room. They delivered these to the gentleman, with whom they shared another flurry of whispers.

Tanyth picked up one cookie and placed it between the gentleman’s lips, and he bit off a piece. Then he took the rest of the cookie and licked playfully at Tanyth’s fingers. Tanyth blushed and giggled.

The two continued, the gentleman becoming more forward, licking further up Tanyth’s hand, making their skin flush.

It was impossible to see through their skirt, but Linza knew that underneath the petticoats was a throbbing erection.

If Linza snuck a glance at the gentleman’s face, she could just make out what he was saying by the movement of his lips. He placed a hand on Tanyth’s waist. “Come, now. Haven’t you got any other sweet treats for me?” He beamed up at them like they were the loveliest thing in the whole world.

Linza’s heart twinged, just a little. She was happy to know that Tanyth cared for her. But she still wished for someone to beam at her that way, someday.

The gentleman’s hand slipped around to the small of Tanyth’s back. Tanyth said something from behind their fingers and he laughed.

“Oh,” he said. “Clumsy me, you’ve got a touch of crumbs.” He brushed off the front of Tanyth’s skirts but pressed more firmly than necessary.

Tanyth’s eyes fluttered at the stimulation, the gentleman finding their erection through the petticoats.

“I-I think I’m quite clean now,” Tanyth said.

“Still, something seems to be bothering you,” he said.

“N-nothing at all! You’re a perfect gentleman,” they said.

“Hm. Perhaps therein lies the conflict… Am I being too much the gentleman and not enough the man?”

Tanyth’s eyes widened as they fanned their heated cheeks with a delicate hand. “What are you saying?”

He reached out and caught Tanyth’s hand and pressed it to his lips. Lingered.

Tanyth gasped, looked faint.

He reached towards them with his other hand, but conspicuously knocked the empty tray onto the floor. “Would you look at that? Clumsy me.”

He kneeled down to get it.

“Oh, you must let me!” Tanyth said.

“No, no, let me be a gentleman.”

Linza was not the only one whose sidelong glances became more and more frequent. The idea was for them to both watch and pretend to not watch. 

The gentleman kneeled to the floor and looked up.

Everyone else glanced quickly away. 

There was a rustling of fabric, and then the gentleman was gone.

Tanyth gasped. They made a show of rearranging their skirts, only partly succeeding at disguising the movements underneath.

Linza thought this kind of complicit voyeurism was quite clever. You didn’t actually need to be subtle. You just had to pretend to be, and everyone else would also pretend you were. So, you could have a bit more fun.

Tanyth’s eyes fluttered and their skin flushed even brighter and they clutched their skirts. The gentleman’s clever tongue had found their shaft.

Tanyth did their best to contain themselves, but a few gasps and squeaks still escaped. And that was what made it especially exciting—how a dress falling off a shoulder could be more arousing than a nude.

Linza wanted dearly to watch Tanyth’s face more closely, but she couldn’t outright stare. Or… could she?

Linza imagined herself sitting there and reading a newspaper. She held out her hands like she might have held the paper. She traced the gesture for a minor illusion, and the newspaper appeared propped on the table in front of her. To those convinced by the illusion, it would be opaque. To Linza, it was translucent like the mirrored windows.

Nobody had been paying her any mind, so she expected it would be convincing.  And even if another patron noticed the illusion, them catching her in such shameless voyeurism would be its own fun, wouldn’t it?

She stared right at Tanyth’s face. 

They were beautiful. Their cheeks flushed, their eyes fluttering. They bit their lip as they attempted to stay quiet, to play it off. Their blue pigtails bounced as they trembled. 

A few minutes passed like that.

Tanyth shook. They wouldn’t be able to stand much longer. They awkwardly shuffled and then sat down where the gentleman had been, turning to face the table and scooting the chair as close to it as they could.

And then their expression melted into bliss again. 

They propped up a menu in front of their face, but Linza could still see their pigtails quivering. 

And so several more minutes passed. Linza’s illusory newspaper must have been convincing, because a patron across from her slipped their own hand under the table. He was out of sight for everyone except Linza, and she had a clear view right under his table to where he unbuttoned his trousers and carefully released his throbbing shaft.

He stared up at the ceiling as if daydreaming and then stroked himself.

If a little gasp just behind Linza was any indication, the woman behind her had also started to furtively masturbate.

Linza’s attention returned to Tanyth as they leaned further over the table. They whispered somewhat loudly, for the benefit of the audience, “C’mon, that’s enough!”

“But I always have cream with my tea.”

Tanyth’s eyes and resolve fluttered again. “They’ll notice!”

“Not if you’re quiet.”

“I can’t be— mmmm…” Tanyth’s eyes squeezed shut. They gripped the edge of the table, and their shoulders quivered. 

Linza inferred that the gentleman had enveloped Tanyth again, and he seemed intent on pushing them to climax. 

Tanyth’s breath was quick and shallow. They bit their lip again. Then, their eyes flashed open. They looked like a cat frozen in the sudden light of a front door swinging open. 

They arched their back, head tilted back, moaned, and then reached their hands above their head.

It was almost a convincing stretch.

Almost. 

A slight knocking sound of knuckles on wood caught Linza’s attention, and she turned just in time to see the man across from her burst onto the floor in front of him. 

Waves of heat overlapped each other throughout Linza’s body. Nobody else would have minded if she slipped her own hand under the table—in fact, the other voyeurs would have appreciated it. But she was still a bit shy for that, and ultimately she liked to push herself, to see how much stimulation she could stand before she broke. Like the bet with Tanyth on her first day in the breakroom, she liked the challenge.

Tanyth quivered for quite a while. They must have been quite worked up indeed, to cum for so long.

Eventually, the gentleman reappeared across from Tanyth, with a moderate effort at subtlety. His hair was a bit untidied, but his demeanor remained polite.

He licked his lips at Tanyth. 

They put their face in their hands and then peeked at him through their fingers and giggled.

“Was I enough of a man for my perfect lady?” he said.

They nodded emphatically, ringlets bouncing.

“I am afraid I must get back to business, you understand.”

Tanyth pouted. “Must you?”

“Aaah… you know I have such trouble leaving you when you make that face. A few more minutes.”

They chatted a bit longer, though quieter now and Linza could hear less of what they were saying. She also was not as interested in eavesdropping on the more personal aspects of their conversation. 

And her arms were getting tired from pretending to hold up the newspaper. When enough eyes were averted from her, she let the paper melt away to nothingness and returned to sipping her tea, which had turned cold. Oh well—she had no regrets about where she’d put her attentions.